Nadia Hashimi

Nadia Hashimi

Photograph by Chris Carter

Nadia Hashimi is a pediatrician of Afghan descent. Both her parents left Afghanistan in the early 1970s and settled in the United States to chase the American dream. She grew up in New York and New Jersey. Her debut novel, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, was an international bestseller. She lives with her family in Maryland.

MFOB FEATURED BOOK: One Half from the East (to be published September 2016)

Nadia Hashimi’s first middle-grade novel is a coming-of-age journey set in modern-day Afghanistan that explores life as a bacha posh—a preteen girl dressed as a boy. Obayda’s aunt has an idea to bring the family good fortune—dress Obayda, the youngest of four sisters, as a boy, a bacha posh. Life in this in-between place is confusing, until Obayda meets another bacha posh. Can the two girls figure out a way to make their newfound freedoms last?

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